Music
Mason Jennings – “Duluth”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK4S3pkbaWU
In January 2000, Mason Jennings released his second album, Birds Flying Away, featuring a track titled “Duluth.” Twenty years later, on Friday, Jan. 24, he’s in town performing at Sacred Heart Music Center.
Third verse:
We’ll live in a little town
North of Duluth
Where my grandmother
Lived in her youth
Starr Brainard & Andy Lipke – “Broccoli”
Broccoli is the Duluth Community Garden Program One Vegetable, One Community initiative‘s 2020 Vegetable of the Year. Above is a clip from WDSE-TV‘s series The Slice, with background info about the new song by DCGP Land Stewardship Coordinator Starr Brainard and Duluth musician Andrew Lipke; below is the full audio track. (more…)
Dave Hudson – “Samson in Duluth”
Brooklyn, New York-based musician Dave Hudson references Duluth on this track from his 2001 album New Sickness.
Selective Focus: Duluth-area Film Festivals in 2020
If you’re a fan of film or an aspiring filmmaker, here’s a quick list of festivals in the area you can get involved in by attending or submitting your work. Each has a different focus and flavor, but for those interested in the art of filmmaking, there are opportunities for involvement at many of levels beyond being an audience member. (more…)
Charlie Parr – “Where You Gonna Be (When the Good Lord Calls You Home)”
According to Charlie’s Facebook page, this video was nine years in the making.
Director of Photography – Erik Murphy
Sound Engineer – Jon Oelke
Editor – Lei Shi
Director – Lance Lundahl
Glitteratti – “I Believe You / Another Day”
Duluth band Glitteratti releases its debut full-length album, Among the Wild, on March 6 and performs at Pizza Luce on March 13. (more…)
2019: The Year in Duluth Gig Posters
Here it is, Perfect Duluth Day’s annual collection of things that were stapled to telephone polls, taped to lavatory walls, pinned to bulletin boards and uploaded to websites. As usual, by no means is this a comprehensive collection of local rock posters, nor is it a carefully curated archive of the best. It’s just a bunch of them we noticed and didn’t lose in 2019. (more…)
Richard Lee Armstrong – “Landlord of Duluth”
Ten years ago today — Dec. 30, 2009 — Richard Lee Armstrong released the album Pretty Dream Woman, featuring the track “Landlord of Duluth.” The song tells the story of Armstrong’s claim that he technically owns part of Downtown Duluth. (more…)
Video: Grace Holden dances with Lizzo on SNL
The second song by Minneapolis-based pop star Lizzo on Saturday Night Live, “Good as Hell,” featured Grace Holden of Duluth/Bemidji. Among the four dancers on the floor, she is third from the left in the opening minute, before the rotation.
Grace Holden will dance with Lizzo on Saturday Night Live
Former Bemidjian Grace Holden to dance with Lizzo on 'Saturday Night Live' - The Bemidji Pioneer is your #1 source for news, weather, and sports around Bemidji and throughout Minnesota.
Eddie Murphy will host Saturday night's broadcast of “Saturday Night Live,” which airs at 10:30 p.m. on NBC
bemidjipioneer.com
Grace Holden, a Bemidji native and longtime trumpeter and dancer for Duluth band Red Mountain, has also been dancing with Minneapolis-based pop star Lizzo for nearly five years. The Bemidji Pioneer reports Holden will be part of the act when Lizzo appears as musical guest on the Dec. 21 episode of Saturday Night Live.
(more…)
Brianna Lane – “Duluth”
Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter Brianna Lane released her song “Duluth” on the 2002 album On Rooftops. (more…)
Superior Siren – “Last Christmas”
Duluth’s Superior Siren perform “Last Christmas” by Wham. Video by Michelle Bennett
The Latelys – “Hoping for the Sun” (PDD’s 2019 Holiday Video)
The days are short, the nights are long. It must be time for the annual Perfect Duluth Day Holiday Video. This year, enjoy the sounds of the Latelys, and a song from the Fall 2019 release Waiting for You, available on thelatelys.com and Bandcamp. (more…)
Trampled by Turtles Cover-song Explosion: “Ooh La La,” “Keep Me in Your Heart” and “Pocahontas”
Duluth-formed band Trampled by Turtles released an EP of cover songs today titled Sigourney Fever. It features five tracks — “Our Town” and “Fake Plastic Trees” have appeared previously on Perfect Duluth Day. The other three tracks were released today.
Above is “Ohh La La,” originally performed by Faces in 1973 and written by Ronnie Lane and Ronnie Wood. (more…)
Selective Focus: Michelle Truax
Michelle Truax has worked at TV stations, for the Duluth News Tribune as a videographer and journalist, and is now on her own doing advertising and documentary work for her own clients. Her videos are filled with gorgeous camera work. This week in Selective Focus Michelle talks about how she started and how she got to where she is in her career.
MT: I’d consider myself a visual storyteller with an emphasis on video. Most recently, I’ve been producing promotional video content for clients in the Twin Ports area.
I really love working in a short documentary style. As a kid, Thanksgivings were spent following my mom around the kitchen with a big Sony camcorder. She wasn’t particularly fond of this tradition, but I figured the drama made for better TV. I’ve always loved capturing all the little, human moments.
(more…)
Steve’s Overpopulated One-Man Band – “Iron Ore”
Steve Solkela shares the musical story of his great-great grandfather’s journey from Finland to Minnesota in search of a better life. “It was backbreaking work down in those Minnesotan mines,” Sorkela writes on the YouTube description. “Many were injured, and many died; but of course, many were successful in feeding their families countless times and watching them grow to live beautiful lives.”
The video was shot over the summer at various locations across northern Minnesota, and edited using a free iPhone app.
Good Knight – “Two Eighteen (Duluth, Minnesnowta Part II)”
Duluth-based rapper Good Knight unleashed part one of this song about a decade ago on MySpace. That version was simply titled “Duluth, Minnesnowta,” and appeared on Perfect Duluth Day in 2011. Part two, featured here, has not previously been posted on PDD. It contains a sample of “Drive” by Incubus.
Both “Duluth, Minnesnowta” songs are loaded with Duluth references and appear on the album Northern Exposure / 40 Oz. Below Zero.
Moments and Truth: Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank
Joshua Priestley’s 2009 documentary Moments And Truths follows the Duluth band Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank on a nationwide tour and into Brooklyn, N.Y. for the Traveling Show recording sessions.
Featuring Teague Alexy, Ian Alexy, Paul Grill and Marco Benevento.
Trampled by Turtles – “Our Town”
Another new song from the upcoming Trampled by Turtles EP Sigourney Fever, available Dec 6. The album features five cover songs; “Our Town” is an Iris DeMent cover.
Video by Mitch Peterson; photos by Banjo Dave Carroll.
Dylan Thomas – “Duluth Street”
It’s not easy to find reliable information online about musician Dylan Thomas, since he shares the name of a famous Welsh poet. But what seems to be the case is that in 2007 Thomas released the album Pieces of an Overhead View, featuring a song with Duluth in the title and the lyrics. (more…)
FeMN Fest scaling down before ramping up
Last year’s FeMN Fest organization team was made up of Diona Johnson, Jesse Dykhuis, Abigail Mlinar, Brittany Lind, McKenzie Howe and Melissa La Tour. Photo by Jes at Mad Chicken Studio.
Since 2017 “a team of womxn-identified bosses” have brought “an unapologetically feminist festival” to Duluth. In its first two years FeMN Fest featured womxn-lead music, art, workshops and vendors. The third annual event on Friday, Nov. 15, at Pizza Lucé is a scaled-down version featuring three musical acts: Me-N-Her, One Less Guest and Wild Flower. (more…)
Video Archive: Average Sun – “Good Night”
A 1997 video from Duluth band Average Sun for a track from the album Light and Shadow. Band members included Andrew and Scott Hauswirth, Bill Nelson and Griffin Vittone. The group was formed around 1994.
Vittone and Scott Hauswirth continued on into the next millennium with a revamped version of the band that included keyboardist Tim Shepard. By 2003 the group consisted of Hauswirth as the lone original member, joined by guitarist Corwin Pederson, bassist Ethan Thompson and drummer Chad Hulter.
Jim Hall chases time after five decades on stage
Jim Hall played a Halloween party at the Duluth Owls Club last month. On Saturday, he’s playing at Sacred Heart Music Center, a celebration of his 50 years on stage in the region.
Those familiar with the music of Jim Hall over the years would be right to do a double take when they hear one of his sets these days. The already basso troubadour has kicked his voice into even lower gear, and with a growl. That’s how Hall has been fighting an alarming and mysterious change in his vocal chords earlier this year. Even his talking voice changed. (more…)
The Richardson Brothers Podcast: Charlotte Montgomery interviewed by Jim Richardson
The Richardson Brothers: Charlotte Montgomery Interviewed by Jim Richardson
richardsonbrothers.libsyn.com
The first of a projected series of Duluth music scene interviews. Jim Richardson interviews the multi-talented Charlotte Montgomery: solo singer-songwriter, member of the band Red Mountain, and dancer in the Duluth Dolls. This interview features a performance of one of Charlotte’s original songs – “West” – and it is a barn-burner. Charlotte is leaving town after eight years; her farewell performance was at Blacklist Brewing, Saturday Nov. 9 at 8 p.m.